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I've had a sad yet entertaining week following media publicity for four of this summer's biggest movies: Cinderella Man, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Batman Begins and War of the Worlds. I really only intended to follow the hype for the first of these, not because I have any real interest in studio publicity but because I think Mr. Crowe has been the best actor working for the past several years, and he is never boring. Unfortunately he chose this week to be spectacularly un-boring...all right, to behave like a total jerk and throw a telephone across a hotel lobby. I might have forgiven him more quickly if his publicist (who has put out unimpressive statements in the name of other clients such as Orlando Bloom and Heather Graham) had not announced that this was all because a hotel clerk had given Crowe attitude. I don't care what names the guy might have called Mr. Crowe, nor do I particularly care whether Mr. Crowe was aiming at a person or just tossing the phone in frustration; my eight-year-old knows better. How any publicist could come out with any statement other than "Mr. Crowe is deeply, deeply sorry for any accidental injury he may have caused" is beyond me.

Then there's Brangelina, as even my local paper's review of their movie this morning insist on calling Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt. I had for some time been looking forward to Mr. & Mrs. Smith, because Prizzi's Honor-type scenarios interest me and I have never seen Ms. Jolie give a bad performance, but I feel as if I have watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith already on Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and more venues than I can count. I don't care whether the stars are dating or when they started or what it did to Mr. Pitt's marriage to Ms. Aniston, which is not my business, but I've lost my taste to see them playact on the big screen after all the playacting on talk shows. Funny, I had the same feeling with Mr. Crowe and Ms. Ryan a few years back, and their movie bombed.

And it has been impossible to turn on the television without seeing the Tom and Katie Show, even on my local news. At first, I admit, this was an entertaining distraction from the Michael Jackson trial, whose coverage I can no longer bear. But it has become so unbearable that I no longer have any interest in seeing War of the Worlds despite Steven Spielberg and I am seriously wondering whether I'll be able to stand Batman Begins, despite being a fan of Mr. Bale, Mr. Neeson, Mr. Watanabe and Mr. Caine. I had enough trouble looking at Mr. Cruise before and seeing anyone other than Mr. Cruise; I suspect that it is now impossible for me to see anything other than phoniness, and despite loving Dawson's Creek I have few illusions about Ms. Holmes' range as a performer. The thing that's being shoved down our throats as the ideal girlfriend, playing Bruce Wayne's true love, just isn't a concept that I wish to wrap my brain around.

Meanwhile a friend in Toronto wrote to me to tell me about this phenomenal film she saw, Saving Face, of which she said, "The main characters are proud of the culture and heritage they come from and when the culture they're from and the culture they're in 'collide', they don't give up their foundations. Instead, they take advantage of the two cultures they're in and create something that is better than each on its own." I have no clue when this film might make it to the Washington, DC area, unfortunately; our screens are too full of Brangelina, Tom'n'Katie, and Russell's fists.

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

'Master Builder' Seeds Sown During 'Nemesis'Patrick Stewart (Picard) explained that he made the decision to embark on a West End run of The Master Builder after the play which was brought to his attention on the set of Star Trek Nemesis by the screenwriter:

We're sitting side by side waiting, as you spent most of your life, and [John] Logan said to me, 'Patrick, have you ever thought of doing a film version of The Master Builder?' And I told him, I'd never even thought about The Master Builder, not for decades, and he said 'Give it some thought'"

Producer Douglas Weldon called Stewart about a week later and asked him if he would like to appear in a production of the play.

Blalock Gives Tom Green A 'Trek' EducationOn The Late Show With David Letterman, Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) explained to guest host Tom Green that the clothes did not come off on her action figure and that she did not play a "space monster" on Star Trek: Enterprise.

Dawson Engineers More Directing DutiesRoxann Dawson (Torres) revealed that she would direct two further episodes of Enterprise, following five installments during the first two seasons, and that she was working on other television series and a film as well.